Wednesday’s announcement that MLS is coming to Atlanta brought out the major players in the effort to bring major league soccer to the city, including Atlanta MLS owner Arthur Blank, MLS commissioner Don Garber and Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed. The emcee of the Welcome-to-Atlanta festivities was one of America’s beloved soccer players and current ESPN analyst, Alexi Lalas.
Lalas believes Atlanta is a location that has been missed by MLS since it began in 1996. Bringing MLS to Atlanta and by extension, the southern U.S., will help grow the game and the league.
“You cannot underestimate the importance of the geographical location,” Lalas said. “When you look at the footprint where MLS was in North America, for a long time there was a big hole that was very, very apparent. Coming to Atlanta solves that problem.”
Atlanta and its surrounding area continues to grow as does its interest in soccer. Lalas envisions a future Atlanta soccer club that is uniquely Atlanta, influenced directly by the city and its cultures, and will help advance the popularity of MLS in the United States.
“I think there are a lot of people that are excited about coming to Atlanta whether it’s players or fans traveling,” Lalas said. “It provides opportunities for rivalries, obviously with Florida teams coming in and organic ones that happen naturally, you never know where those rivalries are going to come from. Because of the geographical nature of Atlanta, it’s right for those types of things to happen.”
With an owner like Blank at the helm, Lalas believes there’s no reason why soccer in Atlanta won’t catch on. Blank’s background as owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons offers up a resume of success engaging and impassioning fans and Lalas believes Blank will create a fan-first environment set in a world-class soccer facility.
Soccer continues to grow all over the nation and Lalas sees a vibrant soccer culture that will only get stronger. Unlike in the past, soccer is no longer a fringe sport and its place as a unifying force among cultures is unmistakable. Atlanta’s new soccer team will help bring the city closer together and provide yet another symbol to rally around.
“Soccer’s not a niche anymore,” Lalas said. “It helps to inform and define almost who you are. When you’re a part of this group, how you speak, how you dress, how you hold yourself, the friends that you have and how you look at yourself within the context of not just your country but also your world is often defined by soccer. It’s an amazing thing to see happen. It’s a huge part of what MLS is tapping into and in many cases helping to create.”
